Paranoid Mind
by Blairsey
Summary: A tragic love story


The sun's rays cascaded gently upon the fair lands of Estes Park, Colorado. It was a beautiful June day where the occasional, fresh breeze danced past, cooling the inhabitants, vistors, and plain passersby from getting extremely hot. The tall peaks, lightly sprinkled with snow that looked like fluffy pillows, stood majestic and regal, as if looking over all of Estes Park. The pine trees were dotted here and there along the mountains, it's leaves drifting gently upon the branches with every breeze. The moose, groundhogs, chipmunks, llamas, and the occasional wolf or fox would come out more into the open to enjoy the beautiful day, much to the tourists' and their cameras' delight, those pictures sent home to their family and friends.  
It was here that two people had met, upon mere coincidence.

On this day, Brooke White rushed to the local, national center entrance, where people could freely hike along the nature trails winding about the mountains outside. Brooke had graduated from her highschool back in Texas in May, and thought, what better way to enjoy vacation than to have a leisurely car drive to Colorado and bring a couple of close friends along? So, naturally, around ten other people showed up and soon enough, they were all driving in a rusty old van that was owned by some boy Brooke barely even knew, but apparently was a 'good' friend of her own friend, Nicle, and insisted he come along.  
Brooke was a quiet, good natured person that seemed to not have one speck of dirt in her pure heart. People would literally drop their jaws in astonishment if she had even done one crime, no matter how small.  
Now, she was here, and enjoying the fresh air of the mountains, despite the fact that she wasn't expecting so many people to come along on the trip. It was fun nonetheless, and eventually got used to all of the people fast. Walking to the person behind the counter at the center, she gave a quick smile to the person, and then froze for a moment.

**This guy was smiling cooly at the young woman in front of him, almost feeling dazed for a moment at the natural beauty of this girl. Not a spot of make-up was on her face, and for a moment, he marveled at the thought of her being one of those rebellious, non-cosmetic people who were against materialistic things to make themselves look good. Or she could just be hiking a long way and didn't want to bother with it..  
Either way, she stunned him. She had fair, dirty blonde hair with eyes that looked as if they were dipped into the deep, beautiful depths of the ocean. And that smile was so natural and meaningful, he just wanted to smile widely back.  
"Hi there, welcome to the national park center! Can I help you?" It seemed mechanic as he said the exact same words he's said to every other person who stopped by for a ticket into the park.**Brooke had hoped he didn't notice how stupid she looked, just standing there and staring at him. His shaggy brown hair wasn't too long or short, his chocolate eyes were glistening with such life, and to top it all off, he had cute dimples when he smiled like that. When he finally spoke, she got off her 'frozen spell' and tried to formulate a coherent sentence inside her head. "Um, I needed…I mean, I need 11 tickets for the hiking trail," She said timidly, silently cursing herself for acting all modest.

**Her voice wasn't like one of those annoying, high-pitched, preppy girl's tones. It was feminine, oh yes, he knew that. It was just different, and it was plain beautiful. "Haha, okay. You with family..?" He trailed off, meaning to get her name.**"It's Brooke, Brooke White, and no, I'm with a lot of friends," She explained, seeming to relax a little at his carefree manner. Eying his nametag, she then added, "And your's is Mike I'm guessing?"  
"How'd you know?" Mike inquired in mock astonishment, laughing lightly. "Mike Hays to be exact. Is that your bunch over there?" He then asked cooly as Brooke's friends all came tumbling into the center, rambunctious and way too hyper.  
"Um, yeah," Brooke answered sheepishly as Mike gave her the tickets. She payed, and then awkwardly started to walk off, giving the tickets to all her friends, and they all whooped and hollered, running through the back door to get outside. Brooke stayed trailing after them, feeling as if she were missing out on the perfect opportunity, the perfect person, even if it had only been a few seconds of conversation between them.  
Mike stared almost longingly after Brooke, wishing she could hear the desperate thoughts within his mind, pleading for her to come back..  
She started for the door, opened it..  
He sighed..  
And then closed it, but didn't go out. Instead, she walked back toward the counter with a shy smile. "I'm back," Brooke then said in a nervous tone, laughing a little. If that boy's smile could've gotten any wider, it would have with ease.

And that's how it started. Mike and Brooke. Brooke and Mike. Instead of hanging out with people that didn't seem to matter at all anymore, she spent time with Mike the entire trip. They hiked, rented mountain bikes, went to each other's houses (Her's a rented cabin, his a nice, two-story house by the river), and merely enjoyed eachother's company immensely. Brooke stayed in the cabin while the rest of her friends eventually went back home near the beginning of July, constantly having to reassure her friends that she'd be fine alone. Besides, she really wouldn't ever be alone after all…She never felt desolate and lonely without Mike.  
It was then, near the end of July, that she had to go home to prepare for college. When Mike came to the cabin to see her, his joyous news of having enough money to move to Texas with her and buy an apartment made her almost squeal with joy. This was beyond amazing news, for she knew she was in love with Mike. And she hoped, and somehow knew, that he felt the same way.  
So, Mike left his home in Colorado to move with Brooke in Texas. He had an apartment only five minutes away from her house, and when Mike eventually met her parents when they arrived, things couldn't have gone nicer. They thought he was a very nice gentleman and he thought of them as great, maybe even inspirational, parental figures.

One day, Brooke was at home, alone. Her parents both had work and Mike was at his new job as a waiter at a nice restaraunt. She went into her room, feeling a steadily growing darkness envelop her insides as she stood there and gazed around the bedroom. When looking into her mirror at the side, she saw an ugly girl: too pale, her smile mismatched, skin horrible, and packing a bit too much weight. Dark butterflies flitted about within her as she crossed over into her bathroom and opened the cabinent, getting out anti-depression pills. There were just some things she wouldn't, couldn't, tell her beloved Mike..

When Mike's car was in repair for a weekend, he called Brooke to ask for a ride from work. Of course, she said she would and drove over to the restaraunt to pick him up. At once, she saw him standing outside the restaraunt with another girl. She was playing with her platinum, blonde hair, had a cake of makeup on her face, and was gazing at Mike a bit too intimately. Mike said something, smiled, laughed, hugged the girl, and then strode over to Brooke's car.  
He almost looked arrogant, with that confident swagger and that extra twinkle in his brown eyes..  
Brooke clenched the wheel a bit too tightly, and then tried to relax, putting on a fake smile as Mike got in, oblivious to what was going on inside his girlfriend's mind..

Weeks passed. The pills were left unattended and growing dusty in Brooke's bathroom cabinet. Mike seemed to be staying longer and longer at the restaraunt, to Brooke's dismay. He kept on saying in a hurried, nervous rush over the phone how busy he was and how he was trying to support the bills for his apartment. She didn't believe it at all. She felt as if Mike was purposefully ignoring her calls, was making up the stupidest excuses everytime she wanted to spend time with him, and that monster inside of her was just growing and growing, continusely yelling obscenties about how she would never be pretty or good enough for Mike, how he has moved on to better things, better people…She couldn't handle it.

On the night of July 28th, Brooke was found dead in her bedroom, of drug overdose.  
Mike had come just two hours later with a suit on and a nice tie, holding a small container. He had the restaraunt he worked at booked for the entire night between them. It had taken him quite a while, what with the extra shifts and extra jobs his manager made him do. But it was all worth it. For her…For Brooke White…Brooke Hays.  
When her parents answered the door, Mr. White was extremely pale, and Mrs. White had red eyes with tear marks down her face.

When they told him, Mike's eyes lost that twinkle, and his hand let go of the container, falling, falling down onto the pavement and into the grass, flying open to display a wedding ring inside.


End file.
